Bottle

ABSTRACT

A bottle ( 1 ) is described, intended for water, comprising a neck section ( 3 ), a shoulder section ( 4 ), a body section ( 5 ), and a bottom section ( 8 ) with a kick ( 9 ); wherein the neck ( 3 ), the shoulder ( 4 ) and the body ( 5 ) are made of a transparent and colourless material; and wherein the kick ( 9 ) is coloured.

The invention relates to a bottle, intended for colourless drinks, morein particular water, either being mineral water or not.

It is usual nowadays that mineral water is packed in transparentbottles, with a content varying from approximately 0.20 l toapproximately 1.5 l, which bottles can be made from glass or a syntheticmaterial (PET), and wherein the material of the bottles is colourless orevenly coloured, for example green or blue. Bottles like that satisfyfor normal domestic use. Also in catering establishments the use ofbottles like that satisfies, though a drawback is that the customer towhom water is presented in this way experiences this water only as“common” or even “dead”. The water merely has the function ofthirst-quencher, and offers no further added value or added sensation.

However, particularly for use in the so-called “Out Of Home” market(more in particular catering establishments), there is a need forbottles which give an added value to the water, so that the presentationof water in a bottle like that for the user involves a specialperception.

To meet this need, the present invention aims to provide a bottle whichis constructed such that an observer gets the visual impression thatwater in that bottle has a colour. The water, which can be mineralwater, either being a fizzy soft drink or not, is colourless in itself,so that on pouring out it appears that the water has no colour, but aslong as the water is in the bottle it has a colour impression. In itselfthis is already a surprising effect, which draws the attention and hasan esthetical effect. Furthermore, when bottles are provided formutually different colour impressions, customers are offered theopportunity to select a water that matches, colour-wise, a certainoccasion, a certain mood, a certain personal character, certain clothes,etc.

Coloured bottles already exist, for example green bottles. With bottleslike these, however, one doesn't get the impression that the liquid inthe bottle has the colour green, one simply gets the impression of agreen bottle with a liquid; this is not the effect the present inventionaims to achieve.

To reach the intended result, a bottle according to the presentinvention has an essentially colourless outer wall and a coloured kick.

In a first implementation, in which neck section, shoulder section andbody section of the bottle are made of a transparent and colourlessmaterial, this is reached because the kick is made of coloured material.

In an alternative implementation, in which neck section, shouldersection and body section of the bottle are made of a transparent andcolourless material, this is reached because the kick is provided with acoloured surface layer or coating. This offers the advantage that thekick can also simply be made of colourless material. Then, the besteffect is reached if the coating is applied to the inner surface of thekick.

These and other aspect, characteristics, and advantages of the presentinvention will be further clarified by the following description withreference to the drawings, in which the single FIGURE schematicallyshows a longitudinal section of a bottle 1 displayed in an uprightposition. The bottle 1 is essentially rotation-symmetrical in relationto a vertical axis 2, i.e. in top view the bottle has a circularcontour. In side view, three parts of the bottle can be distinguished:at the upper side a neck 3 with a relatively small diameter, at thelower side a body 5 with a relatively large diameter, and in between atransition area or shoulder 4. The bottle displayed has an elegant, slimshape with a relatively long neck and relatively high shoulder, butdifferent proportions are also possible.

The interior of the bottle 1 is indicated with 6. The neck 3 is open atthe upper end, so that de bottle 1 has a mouth 7 for filling of andpouring out from the bottle. The mouth 7 can be closed, for example by acrown cap, a screw cap, a cork, etc, but this is not shown for the sakeof the simplicity.

At the lower end, the bottle has a bottom 8. Normally, water bottleshave a flat bottom, but the bottle according to the present inventiondistinguishes itself because the bottom 8 has an (for exampleclock-shaped) increment 9, that is indicated as “kick”. In a preferredembodiment, the kick 9 has a height of approximately 5 cm, while theentire bottle has a total height of approximately 33 cm, though thesemeasures are not critical. For the intended effect, it is preferable,though, that the kick 9 has a height of minimal 0.5 cm, more preferablyminimal 1 cm.

The neck 3, the shoulder 4 and the body 5 are made of a transparent andcolourless material, for example a synthetic material, but preferablyglass or crystal due to the higher quality appearance. The bottom 8 andthe kick 9 are made from the same material, i.e. synthetic material,glass, crystal, but the kick 9 has colour. The remaining part of thebottom 8 may also be coloured just as the kick 9, but may also becolourless. The kick 9 does not need to be transparent, though a certaindegree of transparency offers an esthetically beautiful effect when thebottle is held against the light.

In a possible embodiment, the kick 9 is made from a colourless material,just as the body 5, and the kick 9 is provided with a coloured surfacelayer or coating. In such case, such coating is preferably applied tothe inner surface of the kick 5, i.e. the surface directed towards theinterior 6.

In another possible embodiment, the material of the kick 9 itself iscoloured. Then too, if desired, a coating can still be applied. It isnoted that it is known perse to manufacture glass objects or crystalobjects with multiple colours, wherein the colouring agents are mixedwith the glass and the crystal, respectively.

When the bottle 1 is being filled with a colourless liquid such aswater, by refraction of light the optical effect is reached that thecolour of the kick is visible in the liquid, wherein it is importantthat the body 5 and the shoulder 4 are colourless, so that the opticaleffect is not disturbed.

It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the invention isnot limited to the exemplary embodiments discussed in the above, butthat several variations and modifications are possible within theprotective scope of the invention as defined in the attached claims.

Although the bottle according to the present invention is primarilymeant for a colourless liquid such as water, it is also possible to fillthe bottle with a liquid that already has a colour by itself. In thatcase, a colour impression differing from the original liquid colourresults.

1. Bottle comprising: a neck section, a shoulder section, a bodysection, and a bottom section with a kick; wherein the neck, theshoulder and the body are made of a transparent and colourless material;and wherein the kick is made of coloured material.
 2. Bottle comprising:a neck section, a shoulder section, a body-section, and a bottom sectionwith a kick; wherein the neck, the shoulder and the body are made of atransparent and colourless material; and wherein the kick is providedwith a coloured surface layer or coating.
 3. Bottle according to claim2, wherein the kick is made of colourless material.
 4. Bottle accordingto claim 3, wherein the coating is applied to the inner surface of thekick.
 5. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein the kick is partiallytransparent.
 6. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein a part of thebottom outside the kick is colourless.
 7. Bottle according to claim 1,wherein the bottle is made of synthetic material, glass, or crystal. 8.Bottle according to claim 1, wherein the kick has a height of at leastapproximately 0.5 cm.
 9. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein the bottleis substantially rotation-symmetrical in relation to a vertical axis.10. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein a part of the bottom outsidethe kick is coloured.
 11. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein the kickhas a height of at least approximately 1 cm.
 12. Bottle according toclaim 2, wherein the kick is partially transparent.
 13. Bottle accordingto claim 2, wherein a part of the bottom outside the kick is colourless.14. Bottle according to claim 2, wherein the bottle is made of syntheticmaterial, glass, or crystal.
 15. Bottle according to claim 2, whereinthe kick has a height of at least approximately 0.5 cm.
 16. Bottleaccording to claim 2, wherein the bottle is substantiallyrotation-symmetrical in relation to a vertical axis.
 17. Bottleaccording to claim 2, wherein a part of the bottom outside the kick iscoloured.
 18. Bottle according to claim 2, wherein the kick has a heightof at least approximately 1 cm.